MONEY BLUES: With no competition to drive up his asking price, Ahmad Bradshaw stayed with the Giants by signing a four-year, $18 million contract yesterday.Getty Images

Ahmad Bradshaw has forged a place for himself in the Giants backfield with his ability to find a hole even when none exists. But he couldn’t find enough interest from another team to force a bidding war for his services.

With all his avenues blocked, Bradshaw found his way back to the Giants yesterday, agreeing to a four-year, $18 million contract that includes $9 million in guaranteed money.

Getting Bradshaw back in the fold was a priority for the Giants, who again want to team him with Brandon Jacobs to form a versatile 1-2 punch. Jacobs restructured his contract in order to help ease the Giants’ salary cap restraints, and he knew some of savings would be used to help re-sign Bradshaw, who gained a career-high 1,235 yards last season.

Bradshaw’s deal isn’t in the same stratosphere as the mega-deal recently signed by DeAngelo Williams (five years, $43 million, $21 million guaranteed) to stay with the Panthers. Heck, it’s not even in the same ballpark as the contract the Giants gave Jacobs two years ago (four years, $25 million, $13 million guaranteed).

Having made an offer for Bradshaw a few days ago and not getting anywhere with negotiations, the Giants began exploring other options at running back. Jason Snelling, mostly a backup with the Falcons the past four years, was in for a visit yesterday, but it was a short one once Bradshaw signed.

There really weren’t any viable options for Bradshaw. He was scheduled to visit the Bengals until they re-signed Cedric Benson. The Redskins expressed interest, before they traded with the Cardinals for Tim Hightower. And the Dolphins were interested before they traded for Reggie Bush.

The Giants knew they didn’t want to break the bank for Bradshaw and didn’t think they had to, which is why they held the line on the contract. Bradshaw and Jacobs will share the load, with D.J. Ware expected to fill the third-down role because of his ability to catch passes out of the backfield.

Bradshaw is not eligible to practice until Thursday. The Giants are off today, giving Bradshaw plenty of time to report, take a physical and put himself in position to be on the field for the first time on Thursday — the first day he would be eligible to practice as a newly-signed free agent.